


The Crazy adventures of Velvet

by Expected_Outcome



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Team as Family, Valentino is an asshole, Valentino is not a good parent F---, Vox and Val are her parents basically, insane character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:28:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25843585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Expected_Outcome/pseuds/Expected_Outcome
Summary: To the whole of hell it seemed as though Velvet was perfect. Enviable in every way. She had wealth and power beyond what most lowly sinners could ever hope to achieve. She had friends, her fellow equals Vox and Valentino. And perhaps Velvet believed that herself, at least most of the time.
Relationships: Charlie Magne/Vaggie, Valentino & Velvet & Vox (Hazbin Hotel), Valentino/Vox (Hazbin Hotel)
Comments: 39
Kudos: 94





	1. Am I cake?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fanfiction so please let me know if you enjoyed it!

Velvet was wandering the streets of hell, she was going to help her dear friend Val with a mission. Sinners scurried away from her in fear, trying their best to avoid eye-contact with the powerful demon. Soon she had arrived at the place Val had called her to. It was a small little bakery on the edge of the city. The brick building looked pretty run down overall, with several windows boarded up and the walls caving in on one side. The sign at the top said “Hell’s #3 bakery”, with a number 2 written on the sign originally, yet hastily crossed out with markers. She walked through the shitty doors at the front to see Val already waiting for her. He looked even grumpier than usual. He was towering over a smaller demon, a grey man with horns protruding from his head. A small cake was sat on a platter between them, which the smaller demon was using as a shield from Val’s rage.

“-JUST SCREW ME OVER LIKE THAT!” Val was yelling at the shop owner it seemed.

“I-I don't understand-” the demon started.

“Bull. Fucking. Shit. I know you’ve been helping them, so make it easy on yourself and don't fucking mess with my business. I want these cakes to be real ya’ hear me? Not stuffed with loads of my merchandise that you smuggled out!” Val glared down at the man, who had taken to pathetically quivering behind the cake stand. “Do we understand each other?” Valentino asked, his silky smooth voice returning, a slight buzz hidden just behind the words.

The shopkeeper nodded frantically, unable to form coherent words in his panic.

“Good.” At that Val turned, only to notice Velvet staring at the scene, trying her best to suppress laughter. God, Val could be so funny sometimes. And watching him be so mad; it was absolutely hilarious! Val’s expression softened imperceptibly.

“Baby doll, glad you could join us,” he purred

“Sure Vally.” She smiled at him. “Anything for a friend, and boy was that so funny, it made me want to explode with laughter! You really showed him what for!” Val chuckled a little at that “So whatcha need me for anyway?” She asked.

“I need you to keep an eye on our friend here.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the grey shop owner. “And make sure the next fucking cake he makes, is AN ACTUAL FUCKING CAKE.” He shouted the last part over his shoulder, which only made Velvet laugh even harder.

Oh why did Val have to be funny today, it was killing her! After she finished laughing she turned back to Val. “No problem Val, I’ll handle it”.

“Good." Val turned to leave, his coat dragging on the floor behind him as he walked.

Suddenly a thought dawned on Velvet, as it often did; but this one in particular made her so giddy with excitement she wanted to hop on one foot. Though she didn’t, cause Val never liked when she did, he said it was embarrassing or something like that.

“Does this mean I get to cut the cake?” She asked Val, hoping he would say yes. She really, really wanted to cut the cake.

Val turned back, he looked surprised momentarily before his signature grin returned and he nodded. Velvet had never remembered a time she felt so excited.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” She squealed, rushing into the kitchen and returning with a large kitchen knife. She smiled as she gripped it, feeling giddy and hyper laughing out loud in pure glee.

Val grinned at the sight before he pulled out his phone. Velvet smiled even wider and posed with the weapon, a flash signaling the photo was taken.

“Be sure to tag me in it!” She shouted after Val. She couldn’t wait until her followers saw that, they were gonna be so jealous!

But first she had a task to complete. She turned to the staff of the small shop, who were hurriedly doing something in the kitchen, rushing about like ants on a hill. Velvet briefly wondered what they were doing, curiosity overtaking her. But nah! She had other things to devote her mind to, like the cake! Velvet bounced over it, practically skipping across the floor. There it sat, pristine and beautiful, with the demon from earlier still standing next to it looking a fair bit shell-shocked from bearing the brunt of her friend's rage. Oh well. She stared at the cake, losing track of time, lost in its sugary attraction. But wait! Val had told her to see if the cake was real! How could she do that? It certainly looked plenty real, but perhaps the cake was lying to her! She elected to lean down to its level and ask the product.

“Are you actually a cake?” She pouted when she didn’t get a response. “I’m talking to you, don’t be so rude and ignore me.” Still nothing. “You don’t have to be shy, it's just a little old me.” And yet the response still eluded her. Fine she thought, be like that then.

“Uh, Miss Velvet?” a voice to her left asked. “The cake is real I swear, Valentino’s just got a little worked up is all.” he chuckled nervously, a clawed hand scratching behind his head. “I'm sure you’re a busy person, you don’t hafta’ waste your time here”

Velvet narrowed her eyes. Didn’t Val say to check the cake? Well he didn’t point directly at the cake, just in its general direction. So what if..? That’s it! He didn't mean the cake sitting on the stool, he meant the guy! It made so much sense, Velvet almost facepalmed. Of course, Val must’ve been mad at him for pretending not to be a cake. She needed them to check and see if he was a real cake or not.

“Are you a real cake?” She asked, a straightforward and simple way to approach it. Surely this man would understand.

“I-I, what?” He stuttered out. How could he have not understood that? It’s a simple question. Unless…

“Oh so you don’t know?”

“Well-”

“That’s okay, we’ll just have to find out,” she said, smiling wide. She was still really really excited to get to cut the cake.

“Wait, I-FUCK” The man screeched out, his shoulder impaled by the kitchen knife halfway through his sentence. Velvet held on to him as he screamed and struggled, yelling profanities into the sky that nearly drowned out the horrid slicing sound of the knife through flesh. Wait, flesh? Velvet finished carving out a chunk from the man as close to the shape of a cake slice as she could manage with him all rudely squirming and screaming. When she finished, she looked at the slice on the plate. It didn’t look like any kind of cake she had heard of, disappointing! Instead it looked like a piece of flesh. That settled it then, he was most definitely not a cake. Velvet felt very proud of herself for solving the mystery. Val was gonna be happy too when he found out what a good job she did.

She looked down at the man who was still screaming and thrashing on the floor, clutching his shoulder like it was the end of the world.

“YOU FUCKING PSYCHO!” he yelled “WHAT THE FUCK! YOU CUT A PIECE OF MY FUCKING ARM OUT!” Sheesh, he was rude.

Well, Velvet supposed she should help him out somewhat, if only to get him to stop yelling such rude things at her. She was only trying to do what Val told her! After stitching the man back up and getting him to stand by the cake stand, she felt even better. She had done so well! Her followers needed to see her accomplishment, so they could understand that today, Velvet had solved the great mystery of the cake! She quickly cut into the cake on the stand with the now-bloodied knife and got the not-cake man to stand by it, looking grumpy. She asked the workers there to take her picture, which they complied with quite quickly. It was amazing how fast that woman scurried to help her. She posed for the camera, holding a slice of cake on a platter in one hand and the knife in the other, smiling triumphantly.

After posting the picture, Velvet decided she felt hungry. The cake looked really good! It smelled good too, like this carnival Vox and Val took her to once. She plucked a fork from the kitchen, and dug in. A happy smile overtook her features as she relished in the taste of the sweets. Then she felt odd. Lightheadedness overtook her, and she felt even more giddy and happy than normal. No, not giddy, she felt more relaxed than anything else. She didn’t notice the store staff chatting amongst themselves worriedly. She left the store, her job now complete, and stumbled into the busy streets of the pentagram. The buzzed feeling in her head had only increased with more of the cake she had eaten. It was like a sugar rush times a thousand! She walked in this state for a time she couldn’t remember. Had it been an hour? Two? She didn’t care. Her thoughts were clouded, like she was walking in a heavy mist in her mind. She stumbled more than once, her shoes catching on the rocks around her. She could have sworn she felt the air grow heavy with some sort of static at one point only for it to disappear as she kept wandering. Eventually, she heard two vaguely familiar voices calling out to her through the fog of her mind.

“Velvet!” They called out. “Are you there?”

Oh of course! It was Val. Velvet wandered over to where the voices were coming from, giggling to herself stupidly at nothing in particular. Eventually she found the voices and it turned out both Vox and Val were there, looking very concerned for some odd reason. She remembered how excited she was earlier to tell them how good she did today, they were gonna be so proud! It was Vox that noticed her first, cyan shoes squeaking against the pavement as he hurried over.

“Vel!” he yelled out. “We were looking everywhere for you, where’d you go?” His screen flickered for a moment.

“Well , I had this wonderful cake, you guys should really try it,” Velvet started, happy to explain to her friend the fun she had in the past... however long it had been. “So I decided to hit the streets to celebrate solving the cake mystery!” She was partially jumping up and down as she recounted the tale. “And then I had so much fun just walking around the city, I think I shoved some guy aside- you should have seen how he scrambled on the floor, it was hilarious!” Vox looked a little lost at the rapid-fire explanation, while Val’s eyes were wide, the color having drained from his face. Velvet turned to him. “So I did what you wanted me to, it turns out that he was not a cake at all, actually.”

“I saw-”

“Yup! He was just some regular guy after all. But I still got to cut the real cake they left out! It was really really good.”

“Velvet. Do you know why I wanted you to check the cake?” Val asked, his voice had gone very low and he spoke slowly.

“Cause you were mad at him for pretending to be a cake right?” Velvet waited patiently for Val to confirm this. Instead his hand found a perch against his forehead.

“They were using the cake to smuggle drugs from my business” Val explained “they were hiding them in the cakes, and you ate it.”

Velvet was confused. “Hiding drugs in the cake, but I told you, he wasn’t a real cake.”

“No, the cake you ate honey, they hid drugs in that.” Val sounded very exasperated. “You ate a bunch of drugs.”

Oh. that explained why she felt so bouncy then. But there was still a question, a mystery that gnawed at her mind. “So why did you want me to check the guy to see if he was real?”

Val looked completely exhausted. “I didn’t! I wanted you to check the cake they baked!” The cake they baked? So that is what all the people were doing in the kitchen.

“I would have paid good money to see you check if someone was a cake.” Vox grinned, amused. “Whatcha do to em’ anyway?” He chuckled, his screen flickering again as he imagined the scenario in his head.

“Not helping” Val butted in. “We have more important things to worry bout’ right now.”

“It wasn’t my business that got hurt, Val.”

“You could still take this seriously!” Val was getting angrier by the second. “Every time I try to do something actually serious you always de-rail it, you fucking clown!”

“It’s not my fault I wanna have some fun every now and again. Quit being such a bitch 'bout it.”

The two continued arguing while Velvet’s thoughts swirled once more. So if the man wasn’t cake and Val wanted her to check ‘the cake they baked’, then she failed didn’t she? Velvet’s mood plummeted at the thought of her triumph from earlier being a fake one. What could Val mean by that though? There was no other cake in the room. So then it must mean the one the demons in the kitchen were making. But then her mind asked another question. If people in hell could be cakes, then what if she was a cake? After all, why else would Val want her to help? She had to investigate this right away. She raised the knife (she had forgotten she took it with her) and pointed it at her shoulder. If she was a cake then she should be able to cut a slice of cake from her, like she did earlier with the not-cake man. Just as she was about to start cutting however, Val had grabbed the blade with two of his arms.

“Vel! What the hell do ya think you're doing?” He all but yelled, his voice shrill and panicked.

“I need to see if I’m cake, Val! Why else would you let me help you with this? You never let me help with anything else!” Vox and Val looked taken aback by that, although Val was still wrestling for the knife. Eventually the larger demon wrenched it out of Velvet’s grasp, much to her sadness. “You never let me have fun!” She whined “I just wanted to see if I was cake."

Vox and Vall just shared a look she couldn’t decipher. It was the TV head who spoke up first. “How about we just go back home for now okay?” Velvet looked ready to retort but he interrupted her “I promise I’ll take you with me next time I have a job to do okay, you can help me solve a mystery I’ve been having problems with.”

At that Velvet felt over the moon. “Okay! I’m great at mysteries.”

She followed Vox and Val as they led her to their car, already wrapped up in wondering what this new mystery was that Vox needed her for. She didn’t realize how tired she was until she sat in the limo’s pink seats, only to curl up into Vox’s jacket and doze off immediately.


	2. Loo-Loo land

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vox and Val have a conversation. Velvet goes to Loo-Loo land.

Night had fallen over the inferno of hell, yet Velvet could not sleep. Vox and Val had revealed to her that she had wandered the streets of hell, in a drugged-up state, for nearly seven hours. And now the high was truly wearing off and despite how tired she was, Velvet found herself unable to fall asleep as easily as she did in the limo. For tonight was one of the worst in her memory. Tonight she had broken free, at least for a little while, of the crazed insanity that normally bound her thoughts. Tonight she could truly comprehend how far she’d fallen. She remembered still how she had clawed her way through life. The contrast was all the more bittersweet now. She hadn’t been a saint, that much was certain, but she had worked tirelessly to acquire the wealth and power she enjoyed now. Yet now she was little more than a fucking _child_ who could barely be trusted to do something by herself. It was honestly a little pathetic. A child who couldn’t think straight. Who tried to cut themselves with a knife cause they thought they were cake. 

Instead her friends had to babysit her constantly, and put up with the stupid reckless schemes she would constantly pull. Velvet wondered briefly what they thought of her. No doubt they were sick and tired of playing the parent act with her. Velvet more than anything else felt a deep pit in her soul. She just wanted things to go back to the way they were, to when she wasn’t some idiotic maniac jumping around at the thought of something as mundane as cutting a cake! But it never would. It started slow, she remembered, not noticeable at first. Velvet had always been a slight bit crazy, but then it just started getting worse. Soon there were voices in her head telling her to do the most absurd and ridiculous things because they said it would be fun. And then she started believing them. Then the voices became her thoughts. Gradually over time she began to become more and more childlike in the way she acted, in the way she thought. Soon she began to even forget what she was originally, consumed by the maniac yet naive personality she had become. Honestly the worst part was nights like this. When Velvet could well and truly acknowledge what a fucking joke her life had become. 

Briefly Velvet debated the option of just curling up in her bed and letting the madness slowly return as it always did. She had found out pretty quickly that fighting to stay sane was a losing battle, and she was forced to accept long ago that her condition had no cure. Instead she decided to pick up her phone and look at the notifications on it, her post from earlier was blowing up. It looked like Stolas and Val were beefing again in the comments. Funny stuff, and normally she would be eating it up, but she could barely find the energy to now. Instead she looked at the DMs Vox and Val had sent her. All various versions of _where’d you go_ and _come back we're worried_ . And for a moment Velvet almost believed them. But she knew the truth. This was hell, and the people in it were not sent there for good deeds. That went doubly so for the overlords. She knew how Valentino treated his workers, like they were his personal dolls to be used at his leisure. She knows how Vox ended the careers and lives of those who dared to steal the spotlight from him. Instead they are likely only keeping her around for the value she proved to their operations. No doubt once her mental state degraded to where she was no longer useful, then they would cast her out. And celebrate. At being rid of that annoying brat, who always acted in such petty ways. Then she likely wouldn’t last long, an overlord cast into the streets would likely be snapped up within a day by their opportunistic rivals. That fact alone scared her more than anything; to be thrown into the streets a barely functional person, all alone? A terrifying, if inevitable scenario. She noted something she had written in a reply to some squabble Vox and Val were having. _My two dads are fighting_ . She remembered writing that a scant few hours ago, feeling downtrodden that the two closest people in her life were fighting but also wanting to mess with them, amusement bubbling up at just how funny the two were being! They were just a room over. She could go to them and- _no_! She couldn’t ask more of them. As much as she longed for the comfort of her friends, to have a real conversation with them in a way she hadn’t had for years, she simply couldn’t bring herself to do it. What had Vox told her they would be doing? Help with a mystery he had? That mystery likely didn’t exist, but it was just the kind of petty bullshit that would get her excited wasn’t it? 

This train of thought was getting her nowhere. Instead Velvet decided to do the only thing she could. She sat back on her bed and waited for rest to claim her. It was better than browsing her phone and wallowing in self-pity, though not by much. Still come morning she would be back to normal, her lucid thoughts silenced by the bliss of madness. It was better that way. Then she didn’t have to feel sorry for herself. Then she could just coast as she did normally, living in a child’s fantasy world. At least she would be free to ignore the black pit that had lodged itself in her gut, to not be able to understand how sad her situation had become. That sounded like mercy compared to the mental strain she felt in this awoken state. Yes she should sleep. Tomorrow she could construct some other fantastical and crazy adventure to undertake. 

  
  


\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What are we gonna do, Val?” Vox’s voice sounded unsure, even to him.

Val looked up from what he was doing, his usual fur coat and hat ditched for a set of silk sleeping garments. “What do you mean?” 

“I mean about Vel. She’s getting worse.”

Val sighed. “We both know we had this conversation before.” Of course Val was right, as per usual. When it had first started, when it first became noticeable that something was wrong, they had both tried everything they could to help their friend. All the best doctors money could buy, yet it was always the same. No solution, magical or otherwise, was ever successful and that was even the few doctors they could find that were actually skilled in their craft and not some hack phishing for an easy payday. Instead she had just gotten worse and worse until now, when she had wandered the streets straight into that radio fucker, Alastor’s, territory. Had they not showed up when they did she may not still be a denizen of hell. That thought scared him the most. That his friend might put herself in danger unknowingly and then be lost forever. 

“I know what you’re thinking,” Val started “And you’re right. I get it, I care about her too, but she could get herself killed, or worse, at this rate if we're not careful” 

Vox lifted his head. “what are you suggesting?”

“I don’t think we can let her go off on her own anymore.”

The notion was absurd to Vox. “What?! You heard her today, we barely let her do things on her own anyway!”

“I don’t like it either, but we don’t really have another option.”

“So what then? We just lock her in the studio when we’re not around? Is that really the best we can do?!”

Val nodded. The TV man sighed. He supposed the goddamn rat was right. He hated the idea of making their friend into a gilded prisoner, even if it was for her own safety.

  
  


“Look, it doesn’t have to be miserable for her. We can still take her out, just not alone. This is hell, we can’t risk her being a danger to herself.” 

“Okay.” Vox had nothing else to say. They had no choice. He couldn’t let his family get hurt. Even if it meant locking them up. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
  


Velvet was drawn from her room early in the morning by the smell of a truly wondrous breakfast. It looked like Val was cooking again. The smells were delightful to Velvet: eggs, bacon, pancakes and all other manners of foods that she loved to eat. It was going to be another great day, she could already tell. She was wondering what it was Vox needed her help with, hopefully it was something she was good at so she could impress him!

She walked into the kitchen and saw Vox (as expected) not cooking and instead sitting down at the table with a mug of coffee. After the last time he had tried to make food, they had banned him from using the kitchen.

“Mornin’,” He said when he saw Velvet. “How’d ya’ sleep?”

"It was great! I couldn’t get to sleep last night for some reason, but after that I slept like a rock!” 

Vox’s grin was in full force. “Guess where we’re goin’ today?”

Oh, that was cryptic, but it sounded like it was a fun surprise!

“Hmm, the movie theater?” That sounded like something they would do. But no! Vox shook his head and smiled even wider.

“More fun than that” More fun? What could be more fun then the movie theater? Whatever it was, Velvet was over the moon with anticipation! 

“A sports game?”

“Warmer, but still no.”

“Oh, I don’t know, just tell me!” The suspense was absolutely killing her!

“Ever heard of Loo-Loo land?”

“Loo-Loo land?” She had heard the name before, but she had no idea what the place was. This was a bit disappointing. Vox didn’t seem to pick up on this however.

“It's a theme park!” He proudly announced. And just like that Velvet’s enthusiasm returned tenfold.

“Are we gonna ride coasters?” Vox nodded “Eat Theme park food?” Vox nodded again.

“Yes! Thank you so much! I love theme parks!”

Velvet was already feeling the anticipation of the coaster climbing to it’s peak. She loved roller coasters, they were always so much fun to ride. But first she had to stay for breakfast, at least that’s what Vox said. She could barely stay still in her seat, she was so excited! The food Val had made was placed in front of her, the smell so good she briefly forgot about the anticipation consuming her mind not a few moments earlier. As usual, it looked fantastic. The eggs in particular were always her favorite part, always cooked _just_ right to where they tasted their best. Velvet greedily reminded herself she had yet to find a breakfast meal that could stand up against Val’s cooking. She decided she should tell Val as much, pausing in between stuffing her face full of egg to congratulate the chef on a job well done.

“Vel, slow down.” Vox had barely suppressed a laugh “Your gonna get sick!” He was actually laughing now 

“What can I say?” Val declared proudly, “Kiss the chef!”

He had puffed up his chest looking _supremely_ proud of himself. Vox then ‘accidentally’ dumped a glass of water on him. Velvet almost choked on her food at the scene before her. Val was sputtering something out in confusion. Suddenly an idea came to her. She reached down for her phone.

“VOX! What the hell man?! You’re gonna ruin my coat!.” Vox said nothing “Don’t ignore me! Now I gotta change because of you!” Val was furious, his fancy coat now soaking wet. Then he noticed Velvet filming. Vox was still pretending nothing was wrong, eating his breakfast. 

“Delete that.”

“No”.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Though they had been a little late, Velvet still thought it was worth it. Some of the most entertaining moments came from Vox pulling things like this. Poor Velvet was going to have a heart attack laughing one of these days. Val wasn’t quite as amused, though she had eventually agreed to delete the footage she took. Once Vox was finished getting ready, she had all but dragged him out to the car as fast as she could, her earlier excitement about the theme park still unabated. Apparently Val couldn’t come, something about ‘business’ or what not. Oh well! More fun for her and Vox! Though Val had specifically told Vox to watch the sugar she ate at the park. Val was no fun sometimes. Once they arrived, Velvet dragged Vox along into the opening square of the park, her eyes practically glowing with delight. It was a decent sized place with a creepy mascot (which Velvet thought looked _very_ cool) wandering around, scaring a pair of imps that were walking through the park. They had to wait in line a little bit before they could go in, though thankfully everyone forfeited their spots the moment they saw her. How generous of them! So with the line non-existent, she and Vox finally, _finally_ , entered the park. Already Velvet was gazing in awe at the rides. They were so high! Velvet bounced on one foot, since Val wasn’t around to stop her, giddy at the possibilities the rides offered. Vox had told her to hold hands with him for some reason; so after picking their first ride, Vox led her over to the line. The imp that was manning the ride saw them and passed out on the floor, so another had to be hurried over to help. Thankfully though they were quickly seated at the roller coaster. Vox turned to her. “You ready?” he asked

“Yes!” Velvet could think of no other answer.

So the two of them waited as the ride lurched forward slowly, the gears of the mechanism making an ominous clicking sound as the machine climbed higher and higher. Velvet was shaking in anticipation.

“Wow that's going fast,” Vox yelled in an obnoxious way, his arms splayed back over his TV head, the top hat had been tucked in their car for safekeeping.

“No it isn’t silly, we just started. We still need to get over the hill.” 

“Wait, we do? And here I thought we were already done.” Vox feigned surprise. Silly him, he could get so confused sometimes. Velvet giggled at his continued antics. “Good thing for that then huh? I was thinkin’ that was the lamest ride ever right?” 

“Yeah, that would be totally lame.”

And with that the coaster reached its apex, before plummeting back down to earth at the sounds of the excited (and terrified) screams of its occupants. Velvet and Vox grinned at each other, shouting in adrenaline like nothing else mattered. 

For the rest of the day, Velvet skipped around the park, dragging Vox behind her as quick as she could. They went on ride after ride, going on rides they had already been on when they ran out of new ones. Vox even got her a massive candy cane thing! They got it after they got bored of the rides, with Vox telling her that “Val doesn’t have to know if we don’t tell him.” and shooting her a conspiratorial wink. So they went and got the biggest candy cane cone they could, a full three-feet long no less! There was no way even the two of them combined were going to be able to finish it, so instead they started poking sinners with it like a spear, and laughing at the result. They even got a little pinwheel hairband for her and a set of fancy sunglasses for Vox. And she had to admit, they looked quite good on the TV demon.

“Wanna get some silly face paint?” Vox asked after they walked past a tent advertising the aforementioned service. 

They entered the tent, which was manned by a glasses-wearing demon who somewhat resembled a reptile. He turned to greet the new guests in his tent.

“Hello! Always like new customers!” The lizard enthusiastically welcomed the pair of overlords to his tent. “Here for the face paint?” They nodded at him. “Good. Just so you know I charge extra for girls, unless of course.” He licked his lips in an overtly creepy manner “You have some other means to pay?”.

What? Was he suggesting--. She didn’t have time to finish the thought, as the demon before her was obliterated by a blast of energy. Well then, she couldn’t let Vox have all the fun now, could she? Her own powers entered the fray, hitting the other demons working in the tent and turning them into puddles of gore as blood, muscle, and organs flew about the small space. After a fight which lasted no more than a few seconds, the tent’s interior was coated in blood so much so it was dripping from the ceiling. Vox had his lower half splattered with crimson, she had practically her whole body covered in it. Then they burst out laughing.

“Did you see that guy’s face?” Velvet was laughing so hard she had to wipe a tear from her eyes.

“Yeah! His face was all like ‘oh shi-’' Vox cut himself off and made a dramatic choking sound. After the two had calmed down somewhat, they elected to burn the tent to the ground, and depart from the park. As they were leaving however, Velvet saw out of the corner of her eye a grey mass dart from the burning wreck of the tent, scurrying about the park’s main square. _A rat!_ She should take this home to Val, just imagine the look on his face! She broke her handhold with Vox to chase after it full speed. Vox was shouting something after her as he gave chase, but she didn’t hear nor care. Vox would love it when she told him her plan. Eventually Velvet cornered the creature, managing to grab it. She turned around with a beaming smile on her face, watching as the rat showed its love to its new owner by digging its teeth into her fingers. Vox caught up with her soon after that, huffing and puffing like mad (though how exactly he could huff and puff, she still wasn’t sure). Vox froze.

“Look at the rat!” Velvet grinned “Can we take it home to show Val?” Vox was unusually quiet. “Vox?” Her voice was tentative. Was it the rat?

“Velvet come over here right now” Vox’s voice had lost the charm of earlier, taking on a harsh tone that left no room for question or argument.

Velvet although confused obeyed the instruction nonetheless, dropping the rat in the process. Dang! There goes that idea. Instead, she turned and saw…was that Stolas? It was.They tried to leave but it was too late, the bird had already seen them. He scampered over delightedly with some imp hanging off his arm.

“Hello, Vox,” he said. His voice was posh and sophisticated, like one of those rich characters from the TV shows Vox let her watch. “Out enjoying the park, are we?” 

“We are. What do you want?” 

“I just was wondering if you had met Blizty here.” He gestured to the imp, who was looking nervous as hell. 

"I don’t really care about your imp boytoy, Stolas.”

“How rude. At least I can keep my companions from chasing around a rat like some common schoolgirl.” Vox seemed unhappy.

“You take that back, Stolas. I’m sure she had a good reason.” 

“Why not let her speak for herself, Vox?” Stolas gestured with a feathered appendage over to Velvet. 

So they wanted her to speak. That was okay, she was great at that! “I wanted to chase it!” She protested. “Showing it to Val would have been hilarious! I don’t care if old Voxxy here doesn’t want me to!” She felt proud of that response.

Vox sighed. “We’ll see you around, Stolas.” 

“Have a nice night.” 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the pair started to head home, Velvet couldn’t shake the feeling that Vox was mad at her for something. He hadn’t said anything since the argument, and Vox was never quiet. It was downright unnerving. Vox seemed to notice this.

“You alright?” he asked 

“Are you mad at me?” For some reason, the thought of Vox being mad at her made Velvet very scared. She shouldn’t be, Vox and Val never hurt her.

“No! Of course not, it was a really fun day today. Just don’t run off like that okay?”.

So he wasn’t mad at her, that was relieving.

“Yeah it was really fun!” She perked up immediately.

Eventually the two of them reached home, trading stories about the day, and giggling at the tales. They were still covered in blood and wearing absurd theme park merchandise, which Vox was sure to flaunt to Val when they entered their shared house.

As they were all winding down Vox leaned down to her height to whisper, “Make sure you clean your teeth extra good tonight, okay?” then he put his finger to his lips. Velvet giggled at the secret they shared, before Vox bid her good night. 

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Velvet's "condition" isn't based on any real mental disorder directly, I left it ambiguous. This is just my personal interpretation of Velvet, it likely won't be accurate once the actual show comes out. once again if you liked the chapter please let me know, and if you see any spelling or grammar errors, also let me know. Thank you for reading; criticism is always welcome, as this is my first ever fanfiction!


	3. Rule-breaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Velvet decides she wants to go clubbing on her own. It doesn't end well for her.
> 
> ***Serious content Warning***  
> Please don't read if you are sensitive to extreme violence.
> 
> This is not going to be the usual wholesome 3v family content.  
> You have been warned

Velvet was bored. For weeks now Vox and Val were refusing to let her out of the studio. They were too busy to take her out and they told her not to go out on her own. She wondered why; they had never had a problem with her going out on her own before, yet they always seemed to not hear her when she brought up the question! If she wasn’t so confident in her friends she would think they were avoiding it. But she wasn’t stupid, they would never do that! But here she was. Right now she was sitting in the studio’s office swinging her legs back and forth, dangling them from a chair several times too tall. She wondered how she was going to spend the day. As fun as it was reading drama online, she felt she needed to do something else. She wanted to shake things up, to go on an adventure. But where though? Vox had been temporarily kicked out of the studio by a particularly nasty argument with Val, which ended in his screen being smashed. At least Velvet hoped it was temporary. She didn’t need to worry though, Vox and Val fought like this all the time, they would back together before she knew it! 

So if Val was too busy with work, then who could take her out? Then she overheard a conversation floating across the air. It took her a moment to place the voice; it was loud, obnoxious and it had a thick Brooklyn accent. Velvet’s curiosity got the better of her, so she hopped down from the chair and followed the voice to its source. Which was confusing all on its own. Where was it? Right? No it was coming from the left. Eventually after several minutes of tracking down the source of the voice, she at last rounded a corner to find it. Leaning against the wall was a large, white-furred spider demon. He was very tall, towering above Velvet. His boots alone (very fashionable) were as tall as she was! He was wearing a simple white and pink striped suit, tightly fit to his frame, with a pair of shorts cut almost too high. He was talking into a hellphone, that bore a bright pink case, a cigarette grasped in his lower left hand. It took Velvet a second but she realized she had seen him before, hanging around Val. Wasn’t his name Angle Dust? She wasn’t sure why that was his name, he (or was it she?) didn’t look particularly angular.

“Yeah I heard there’s this new club on the otha’ side of town, supposed ta’ be great for parties.'' The voice on the other end, which was more high pitched, said something Velvet couldn’t make out.

“Sounds good suga’ tits, see ya’ there.” He said, a grin adorning his features and the spider tapped a button on the phone’s screen, ending the call. He then looked up, the grin now gone from his features.

“Ay shortie. Ya got something ta say or are ya just gonna stare like a fucking creep?” Velvet adubly eeped when she realized that he was in fact talking to her. He laughed at that.

“Well look, I ain’t on the clock right now so unless you’re willin’ to pay, buzz off.” Well that was rude. She stepped out from the corner.

“I heard you talking about this party place with your friend.” Velvet’s curiosity had gotten the better of her once again and she had thought of a great idea to have some fun.

Angle raised his eyebrow “Why you askin?” 

“Could you take me with you?” Angle started laughing out loud. “I want to!” she didn't think it was an unreasonable request. “Vox and Val don’t let me go out on my own anymore, and I'm tired of being cooped up here!”.

Finally the spider calmed down enough to speak again. “And Why should I help you?” 

Velvet didn’t have an answer for that. Oh wait! “Cause I’m super fun to be around, I could make the party better!” Velvet remembered that she was always really good at parties. Angle looked at her like she had grown a second head.

“Ain’t ya one of those overlord bigshots the big V hangs out with? Why don’t ya’ just go yourself.” Was this man hard of hearing? No he seemed able to hear her fine, so then why was he asking something she already explained?

“I told you, Val won’t let me go on my own, and he said he’s too busy to take me out.”

“So you want me to take you?” He took the silence as confirmation. “What's the catch? There’s gotta be a catch to this.” Huh?

  
  


“I'm not catching anything?” Velvet was very confused. Again Angle looked at her funny.

“Uh okay. But you said Val doesn’t want you to go out?” Val didn’t want her going out alone, but she was going to be with Angle, so it would be fine. 

“I can handle Vally, come on it’ll be fun!” she practically was shooting lasers from her eyes, they were glowing so bright. It was something that tended to happen when she was excited. 

Angle sighed. “Fine you can come, but pay your own way ya got it?”

“YES! I got it don’t worry. See you out here soon okay? Bye and thank you Angle Dust!” She sped off excitedly. 

“My name isn't-” his voice died in his throat; Velvet had already sprinted out of sight, rushing to get ready for another exciting adventure. Angel was left scratching his head, wondering what in the fuck had just happened. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A short time later Velvet re-emerged from the studio to see Angel waiting for her out front, this time with another demon. This one was also pretty tall and they had one eye in the middle of their forehead, a bright red orb with a white ‘X’ for a pupil. Angel was talking to them, looking angry about something.

“So you're just telling me you invited some rando overlord to go party with us?” The cyclops demon seemed unhappy. Velvet hoped it wasn’t at her, she thought the cyclops looked cool.

“I mean she kinda invited herself..” The cyclops facepalmed.

“This better be worth it Angie, I ain’t gonna waste the night on some hot-shot overlord!” 

“I know, but look, if she turns out to be a total waste a’ time we can just ditch her and go somewhere else.”

They seemed unaware that Velvet was in the same room. So they didn’t want her around? Well Angel dust (she had figured out his actual name) seemed okay with it earlier, so why the big fuss now? She really hoped she didn’t have to stay back in the studio. And she especially hoped they didn’t leave her behind. That would suck and fear gripped her non-existent heart at the mere thought. But enough waiting! It was time to go party! She had even brought her best partying outfit! (when had she gone partying again? She couldn’t remember). Finally it seemed that Angel and his friend had noticed her standing there, lost in thought.

“This her?” Angel nodded to confirm. The cyclops marched right past Angel and walked up to Velvet, who was nervously looking at her shoes. This cyclops demon was really intimidating!

“Look here bitch!” The demon had lowered herself down to Velvet’s level. So not entirely rude at least. “What the fuck were ya’ thinkin inviting yourself along huh?” Oh she could answer that.

“I’m bored staying at the studio all the time.” Velvet felt even more nervous under the scrutinizing glare. 

“Yeah that’s sounds fucking believable. So what are you the big V’s kid or something? Cause I am not gonna go partying with some spoiled overlord bitch.”

“I’m not a kid!” Where had that come from? Why did people always think she was a kid? She was a whole...come to think of it she couldn’t think of her age. Oh well. 

Suddenly the cyclops straightened out again, standing back at her full height. “I know you!”

“You do?” both Angel and Velvet were surprised to hear that. “Yeah she’s that crazy bitch from instagram. She’s pretty batshit insane.”

“Aren’t we all”

“So I can come?” Velvet’s foot was twitching from all the nervousness she felt building up. Not even Val was this scary. 

“Fuck no!” The cyclops sounded offended at the prospect.

“I am not going with some batshit insane overlord, there’s faster ways to kill myself then that.” And just like that, all of Velvet’s enthusiasm died in an instant, her shoulders sagging at the defeat. So she was right, they really didn’t want her. Angel said nothing. And with that the cyclops turned and left, dragging her friend along with her and leaving Velvet to stand dejectedly in the crisp nighttime air of hell, feeling for some reason more let down then ever. Why should she be? She had Vox and Val. Except she hadn’t seen Vox since the day he took her to Loo-Loo land nearly a week ago. And Val had barely spoken to her at all in that same time. 

Velvet wasn’t one to roll over and take the punches though. A prospect filled her head, one far more exciting than anything she had thought of before. What if she went anyway? She would be directly disobeying what Val told her to do and unlike her earlier idea, she didn’t have Angel to take her with him. But she had been allowed out on her own before, so why was this any different? She had made up her mind. Velvet stepped out from the studio, and followed Angel into the night. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Velvet followed Angel and his friend through the neon sign adorned streets of hell. Eventually she came across the location they had picked out. It was huge! Almost as big as the porn studio as a matter of fact. There were spotlights shining into the night sky and bright blue lights spilling out from every window of the building, accompanied by the sounds of loud music beating from the inside of the club. It looked like an incredible amount of fun. After getting through the entrance she gaped at its' interior. The whole place had a sea blue-green theme with large aquariums decorating the roof and wall. In the center of the location was a pair of poles elevated on a stage. Angel and his friend had disappeared into the crowd, not that Velvet cared at this point. Soon she began to feel her body sway with the music, lost in the melodies that graced the airwaves. She began to really dance, letting her body move in what felt like a practiced and familiar way. Which was odd, she felt positive she hadn’t done this before. Apparently she was doing really well cause people were cheering her on as she went by! Soon though the crowd’s attention was turned elsewhere and Velvet continued to dance, feeling elated at how much fun this proved to be. 

Soon a group of sinners walked up to her, whooping and cheering as she continued to live it up on the dance floor. She didn’t notice how they slowly approached, forming a semicircle between her and the other dancers. She didn’t notice how their hands were hidden behind their backs seemingly hiding some secret from the public view. She didn’t notice how the other sinners around had begun to back up, giving as much space as possible between them and the semi-circle of sinners. She only noticed when they closed in. Suddenly she felt sharp wounds across her body, a burning pain filling her senses. She cried out, it hurt so badly like her whole form was on fire. Her senses were filled with nothing but pain, her body began feeling like it was growing heavy. She tried to call for help and to tell the sinners to stop doing what they were doing. Didn’t they know they were hurting her? What had she done wrong, she thought she was doing great! blood spattered her face. Her blood. At that she cried out again, but this time the sound was noticeably weaker, a fact which made her scared beyond belief. She was confused. Was she dying? The sinners around her seemed deaf to her pleas, smiling crookedly and laughing among themselves, spears they had hidden in their suits stabbing outwards in a deadly crescent. No one else outside the circle moved to help, they all seemed not to notice. Velvet’s mind was filled with fear now. She was going to die! She couldn’t breathe, like something was blocking her throat. She tried one last time to struggle and cry out, but again she was met with apathy and held in place by the sharp tips of the angelic spears. But then something happened. Involuntarily purple waves of energy began to flow out of the overlord, deadly things seeking to destroy and mutilate whatever had caused their master such harm and stress. That seemed to work as the other sinners were thrown back with incredible force, leaving Velvet to collapse to the ground sobbing and struggling to catch a breath. The energy faded, it’s owner weakened. 

The spears were thrown from Velvet’s body but that only seemed to hurt more. At this point she was too tired to cry out again, her form crumpling to the dance floor in a puddle of her own blood. A part of Velvet’s mind thought it was almost funny. A game she liked to play with some sinners was trying to guess what color their blood would be. It seemed like hers was a plain old boring red. A small comfort to her. Slowly her vision began to fill with spots, and Velvet panicked. She couldn’t die! The fear gripped her heart. She didn’t want to die! She desperately wanted someone to help. She wanted Vox, or Val. Anyone that could help her. Someone to make her panicked mind calm itself. Instead she only grew more panicked when no arms came to aid. Instead she felt ethereal, and so very cold. Eventually however, someone knelt down beside her though she couldn’t tell who with the spots in her vision. Was it Vox? Had he been here tonight? She wanted nothing more than to curl up into his suit jacket like she always did. Instead the voice that rang in her was not one that comforted her. “Shit, did you follow us here?” it was that scary cyclops demon from earlier! She panicked, no doubt they were here to hurt Velvet for following them. She desperately tried to crawl away but her strength, even with panicked efforts, was simply not sufficient. Instead she collapsed back on the floor, her eyes stinging with tears at the fresh pain. Why did this happen to her? And why couldn’t it end already? 

Another familiar voice. Angel. “Listen to me okay. We ain’t gonna hurt you, you're gonna be alright.” Angel’s voice, normally obnoxious and loud, was warm and soft. It reminded her of Val’s voice in a way.

“I’ll call Val for ya’ okay?” Velvet nodded frantically. She felt hands pressing on her.

“Imma try to stop the bleeding, just stay still” Angel looked worried, and slightly scared himself, though for a reason Velvet couldn’t pin and didn’t care about. The pain flared again and she quietly began to cry even more, whimpering pathetically. Would Val even get here in time? What if he couldn’t help her? Then the panic and the pain erased what little thoughts she still had bouncing around in her head. All the while Angel was still talking, saying something about the blood, but she couldn’t hear him through the rush in her ears. There was a boom that sounded to her left. The fear returned tenfold, Velvet’s heart beating so loud she was sure Angel could hear it. Were the sinners back!?

“What was that!” she blubbered out in between the fast breaths and pained cries.

“It’s just Cherri. Don’t worry about it.” Who was Cherri? Wasn’t that a fruit? Since when did fruits make that loud booming sound?

Eventually Velvet slipped into unconsciousness. She felt light as a feather, drifting like a cloud far above in the sky. She had never actually seen one before but Vox had shown her videos of the fluffy white things drifting gently through the heavens. It didn’t matter now. She was going to be dead soon. Suddenly she felt a jolt, like her body was being lifted. She felt the familiar material of a jacket. She came too with Val holding her in his upper arms. She clutched his jacket like she would disappear if she let go, hyperventilating and sobbing loudly now.

“Val!” The moth’s head snapped down to her

“P-please, I don’t wanna die, please don’t let me!” she sobbed even louder. Vall hugged her close to his chest, his heartbeat Velvet could feel through the coat.

“You’ll be a fine baby doll, I'm right here, we’re gonna patch you right up don’t worry.” The drawl was comforting to Velvet, as was the sensation of being carried quickly out into the night. She hissed as the pain flared again, the hiss turning to another pathetic cry.

“I know it hurts.” Val’s voice was back again, comforting and familiar, though it seemed stained and worried. “But you gotta be strong okay?" Velvet nodded slowly, trying her best to fight the feeling of lightheadedness that overtook her, and soon she had passed out again. 

Back in the club, both Angel and Cherri looked out upon the scene; Val was hurriedly carrying the little overlord to his car, shouting orders to his goons. Cherri had taken care of the men who did this as soon as she figured out what had happened. Angel had insisted she did so while he took care of the kid (self proclaimed not-kid). Even Cherri had to admit she felt a pang of sympathy towards the overlord she’d never met. That had looked pretty rough, and seeing her panic and fear for her life was an experience Cherri could unfortunately relate too. She hoped the kid made it out okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a bit of a cliffhanger this one. It will be a little bit longer then normal before I update again. I need to go through the work and proofread a bit. Not to worry however, the next chapter is already written and will be up before too long.


	4. The morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vox and Val decide that something needs to change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's gonna be a big one boys

Vox had been having a nice night. He had made up with Val and was planning to move back into the studio. He had just settled down, wearing blue hawwaian shirt with a matching color baseball cap (facing backwards of course) and a bowl of cereal sitting next to him on the couch. He was planning to spend the night watching some Voxflix and just generally take it easy. That is until he got a notification on his phone. Which was annoying, because he had specifically turned off the notifications when the bird-bastard had started mocking his outfit in the comments of his newest post. What he wasn’t allowed to dress comfy? Damn stuck-up royalty. 

He groaned and paused the movie that was starting up, fishing for his phone on the couch, to angrily tell whoever was texting him at god-knows what hour of the night to fuck-off. He was not expecting the texts to be from Valentino’s number. And he was definitely not expecting the contents of the message. Several minutes later he was sprinting from the door. He rushed out to see one of Val’s limos already waiting for him out front; he told the driver to go as fast as he could. While he was in the car he re-read the texts Val had sent him, relaying the events of the night. They were short, simple and devastatingly to the point.

_Come over here now._

_Velvet got jumped at a club. Stabbed seven times. She might die_

_Hurry_

The limo sped through the streets like the driver’s life depended on it. Val had ordered his goons to clear the road between Vox’s condo and the studio. But it still wasn’t fast enough for Vox. He was so nervous he felt like he could throw up. He was scared, more so than he could remember in his entire afterlife, and it felt like time was moving in slow motion. He had asked Val for details; apparently Velvet was stabbed with holy spears. Which wasn’t good. He knew the tips of angelic weapons were designed to break off inside of the victim's body, in order to ensure the target couldn't heal their wounds at the same rate as normal. What’s worse is that it meant that if the demon died for any reason, as long as the chunk of holy metal was still in their body, they would be dead. Erased. Forever. For Vox, a mortal, the sense of finality that came with that thought was a fear that he remembered only from his time in the living world. The idea of there being nothing on the other side. If Velvet died, he would never again see her, for all of eternity. He had been too late before. He would not be late again. He had to at least say goodbye, he knew he would never forgive himself if he didn’t. 

Eventually the limo pulled up to the studio, and Vox practically threw the door open, rushing up the steps and into the building. Hell was already starting to gossip about what had happened, rivals watching with keen interest. But none of that mattered to him right now.

He burst into the studio, stopping only briefly to catch his breath. Val was already there, blood was dotting the front of his coat.

“Val!” Vox gasped out, his hands on the knees of his suit “I came as quick as I could, what do I do?” _Oh god, please don’t let me be too late_. It was a little ironic, considering the setting, that Vox was praying; but he could care less right now. Val turned to Vox, whose hands were shaking slightly, his breathing hitched and quick. 

“Fuck Val answer me! Where do I go! I need to see Vel right fucking now” 

“She’s asleep right now, you’d best not wake her up.”

“You mean she’s gonna be okay?” Vox didn’t want to believe it. This was hell, no way was it going to be this nice to him. But instead Val did the impossible. He nodded. Vox felt the most gratifying sense of relief wash over him in a pleasant wave. _Holy hell_. Vox stumbled over to Val and hugged him tightly around the middle. Val hugged back, which was unusual for the larger demon to do so without trying to make it something more, but Vox wasn’t about to complain. The two of them stood there for about 5 minutes still and silent except for Vox’s quiet gasping in relief. Eventually he found the nerve to speak again.

“New house rule.” Vox smiled, though his grin was wobbly and frail “No-one is ever allowed to scare me that badly again.” Val chuckled a little at that one. Eventually the two released their embrace, taking to simply standing around in silence. This time it was Val who broke the quiet.

“So I had my men remove the holy iron from her.” Vox looked up and motioned for him to continue. “We got it out, so she should be fine in a couple days.” Vox nodded at that, still partially expecting this to be some sort of ruse.

“Can I least see her?” Vox needed to silence the doubts in his head. Val nodded and turned towards a door at the end of the hall in their shared penthouse. He slowly moved to open it a small smidgen. Vox peeked his head into the same room he put Velvet to bed in just a week earlier, after their trip to Loo-Loo land. And sure enough Velvet was there. She was bandaged and looked definitely worse for wear, but she was alive. But she also seemed distressed, squirming in her sleep, her face clenching in various expressions of fear. Soft, scared whimpers echoed through the room, clear signs of a nightmare. Vox silently walked over to her, softly and quietly. He placed his hands on her shoulders and gently nudged them, whispering whatever words of comfort he could think of. Velvet sprung up suddenly, looking positively panicked but she calmed down noticeably when she realized who was there. 

“Vox?” Velvet’s voice was small and meek, so unlike her usual peppy self 

“Yeah it’s me” Tears pricked the edges of Velvet’s eyes, and she pulled Vox’s arm into a sort of hug, seemingly not having the strength to do much else. “I thought I’d never see you again.” the tears were spilling faster now, Velvet was quietly sobbing into Vox’s arm. He leaned down and pulled her into a gentle embrace, letting her wear herself out, silently rubbing circles on her back. He didn’t let her see how the tears quietly spilled from his own eyes as well. Eventually the sobbing quieted, and she slumped back into the bed. 

“Get some sleep okay?” Vox turned to leave, but a quiet plea called him back.

  
  


“Please don’t go.” Velvet’s voice sounded near-broken, terror written on her face. “Please, I don’t wanna be alone.” Vox turned to Val, who was standing in the doorway. The latter gave him a small nod. So he turned back to the bed, trying to look and sound reassuring. “I’m not going anywhere okay?” Velvet looked relieved at that. Vox strode over to the bed and sat down next to her, letting her curl up in his side. Soon she was asleep, Vox not far behind. It had been a really long night. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following morning Vox left the room with Velvet still sound asleep. He had left a note so she didn’t get worried, but now he really needed to talk to Val. And sure enough, it seemed as if Val had the same idea. They both (literally) ran into each other in the kitchen. They shared a look that communicated the same message of ‘we need to talk’. 

Vox decided to stop beating around the bush, though he had no idea how he wanted to start this. “You first.”

Val sighed, a long tired sigh, “I think we both know now what’s going on” Vox nodded. There was an attempt on their fellow overlord’s life. And it almost worked.

“People are talking. Velvet’s shown her weakness.” Val continued.

“It spread that fast?” That was bad if so. By now the whole city probably already heard the rumour.

Val’s grim look was all the confirmation he needed. “We need to do something then.” Vox began to ponder the possibilities “We should start with damage control. I own the media, so it shouldn’t be too hard to downplay this.” The hiccup was that damn radio man, he could still broadcast about this. Still, Alastor was notoriously a-political, so hopefully he just wouldn’t care. 

“A good start, but we need to do more than just that.” Val had been silent so far, but he decided to interject.

“Like what?”

“We something a little more permanent for her. I mean bottom line, someone tried to assassinate her; which means they might try again”

“What if it was just some group of shitheads trying to be cool?”

“We can’t take that risk even if it was. I’ll have my guys sniff around for who might have ordered this, but for now we need some place to keep her.”

“She isn’t some property Val.”

The moth raised his hands in mock surrender. “I never said she was. My point is that we can’t realistically keep her here. Not when we're so busy all the time. Not when someone might be gunning for her.”

“Yeah I see you. Where though? I mean this place is pretty secure, where exactly would be safer then just right here in the studio? I mean this is our home plate, no-one would dare fuck with us on our turf.”

“That’s just the thing, that’s what they expect us to do.” Val rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Plus we can’t give her the kind of help she needs here.”  
  
Vox raised an eyebrow “What you mean for her..” he didn’t finish the sentence. “Far as I know we can’t get help anywhere.”

“We can’t” Val agreed “but we might be able to mitigate it. I’ve heard from some connections of mine about some sort of experimental psychology technique. It might be able to keep her engaged enough to at least slow down the decay.”

“So we need a place that can handle the need for that kind of specialized therapy, while still being safe enough to keep her? Tough qualities to look for, any ideas?”

Val smiled “I have one idea, one Angie gave me”. 

Vox caught on immediately. “Absolutely not” 

“It would fit the needs”  
  


“I am not sending my d- _friend_ to some rinky-dink hotel run by Lucifer’s kid. Especially not with the Radio fucker snooping around. Hell, he would probably just fucking kill her the second she walking in the door.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“We keep her here.”  
  


“But you know that we aren’t going to be around enough to keep this place safe. Someone could just sneak in and that would be it.”

“Val. She almost died last night, and now you want me to send her into the middle of my hated rival’s territory?! Besides, can’t we just hire someone? We have money. There’s gotta be a way we can keep her here.”

“You think letting some rando from the street have access to her, when we’re not around is a good idea? At least with the princess, we know she wouldn’t let anyone hurt Vel. She's reliable in her fucking naive little dreams. Besides, Al doesn’t own the place.”

“He may as well! The princess lets him walk all over her.”

Vox pinched his nose (or tried to anyway, damn this TV head) Val had a point, he hated to admit. But the idea of sending Vel away after nearly losing her forever was a hard pill to swallow.

“Look, I get it’s a risk, but Alastor still has to follow the rules of the place, and I don't think the princess is gonna let him just kill her guests willy-nilly. Not with her redemption bullshit she’s preaching.”

Vox almost chuckled remembering the absurd interview the princess had given on the news. God how could a hell-born child be so fucking naive. He sighed. “Can we at least go visit the place beforehand? I’m not gonna agree to this unless i’m absolutely certain it’s safe.”

“Fair enough. I get this is a hard idea to accept.” Val looked away briefly, like he was deciding what to say

"But I don’t think we really have a better option. The fact that both Alastor and the princess live there means it would probably be suicidal for anyone to try and off Vel. And unlike with us, they're actually gonna be there all the time” Vox knew how powerful the royal family was, a fool he was not. He knew that Val was right, no matter how naive she was, the princess would never leave a place designed to provide safety for rehabilitation unguarded. Still Vox couldn’t help but worry about the possibility of some threat slipping through the cracks. Alastor was unlikely to even lift a finger to help Velvet in that kind of situation anyway. 

“We’ll go check it out later today. I’ll call up a few friends, ask them to guard the place when we’re gone.”

Val nodded “I’ll have my guys lock the place down while we're out too.”

Vox then pulled out his phone, scrolling through the contacts to find the one he was looking for. He hit call and put the device to his ear, waiting for it to connect. Eventually it did.

“Hi Roo. Listen, I need a favor from you.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roo was happy to watch the place in their absence. Vox had specifically instructed her not to allow Velvet out (not like she had the strength to get out of bed anyway). So after saying goodbye to Velvet and promising they would be back soon, the two departed out into the streets of hell. They had decided to walk, hoping to hash out any details and qualms they still had about the hotel. Vox was still skeptical about the idea and, truth be told, Val seemed to be as well. They both knew it wasn’t a good idea by any stretch of the imagination. In truth they weren’t even sure if they were even going to go through with it. 

Eventually they arrived at a large ornate, yet crumbling, building. A neon sign sat at the top, its words reading “Hazbin Hotel”. Didn’t princess what's-her-name call it the ‘Happy hotel’ in the interview? Whatever. The pair walked up the fashionable stairs up to the fancy doors that ordained the front of the building. Vox raised his knuckle to the doors and rapped on them, once then twice.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Charlie was not having a good day. No she wasn’t having even a mediocre day. It seemed today the higher powers had decided to throw her a curve-ball. It had started in the morning with Angel dust, currently the only patron of the Hotel, pulling a prank on the building’s resident radio demon. Alastor had to be practically dragged away from the spider before things could get worse. Then more things began to happen. Nifty had accidentally started a fire when trying to make lunch for the crew. Husk had then suggested he teach everyone how to play poker, something Charlie had been pestering him to do for weeks. In her defense, she felt it would be a great way for the team to finally bond! She had been really hopeful that everyone would get along and have fun with some friendly competition. Instead the game quickly devolved into a mess, with Angel getting madder and madder as his horrid poker skills lost him game after game. Charlie was winning, but it felt like a small victory, mostly punctuated by her meekly trying to get between Angel, who was accusing Charlie of cheating, and Vaggie, who was vehemently defending the princess’ honor. Alastor, meanwhile, smiled away, taking in the argument with wide eyes. Nifty stared up at the two, seeming transfixed by it all.

But then a loud knock echoed through the lobby, followed by another in close succession. Looking for any excuse to get away from the now increasingly awkward game, Charlie decided to go answer it. Hopefully it was a new patron, they hadn’t gotten any at all since that fiasco on 666 news a few weeks back. Instead when she opened the door, she was greeted with two, very tall, demons towering over her in the light of hell’s mid-afternoon. She recognized them immediately, and had to fight the urge to slam the door in their face, like she did with Alastor.

Instead they spoke first. “Hi,” The TV man’s voice was mechanical and harsh on the ears. “Is this the Happy Hotel?” 

“Uh, yes. Are you here to be a patron?” Charlie began to get excited

“No thanks, we’re just here to look around princess” Charlie visibly deflated. Before she had time to say anything else however a voice piped up. It resembled the sound of an old radio announcer, with its accompanying static filled the air growing heavy and loud. She turned to see Alastor glaring at the two guests in the door, his eyes narrowed, predatory even, and his grin wide enough to look painful.

“Why Charlotte my dear! We seem to have a few roaches infesting the front of our establishment!” The sound of a laugh track echoed through the airwaves.

Both Val and Vox bristled. “Oh look, grandpa woke up from his nap, you need some ointment for your bones old man?” Val’s voice droned out.

“Yes! Would you like to share your supply?” 

Charlie quickly got between them, the hum of magical power was already audible to the rest of the hotel staff. She really didn’t want to have to clean up the lobby from the aftermath of an overlord brawl.

“Guys please! No fighting in the hotel!” It seemed that they hadn’t heard her however. 

Thankfully for the structural integrity of the building, Vaggie arrived on the scene. “Hey! Break it up you three!” she waved her spear around pointing at both the guests and at Al.

“No fights in the lobby!”

She turned to the two overlords “I’m not letting you get away with whatever schemes you have planned. Get the hell out.”

Vox and Val shared a look with each other. “We aren’t planning anything” Vox looked thoroughly unimpressed at Vaggie’s attempt to threaten him with the spear.

“Look princess.” the TV man turned back to Charlie “We came here for a tour of this place, and a little chat with you.”

“A tour? What for?”

“We’ll bring that up later. Do you have an office? We’d like to speak with you if you don’t mind” Val’s silky smooth voice deflected the question. 

“Yes I do as a matter of fact! Please follow me” Charlie walked forward, indicating for them to follow, Alastor and Vaggie trailing behind.

Vox cleared his throat. “Could we speak in private please?” he nodded his head to the radio demon, “I’m not sitting in the same room as bambi over there.”

“Likewise!” Alastor cheerfully chimed in “But I’m afraid as the sponsor of this fine establishment, I insist that I be allowed to observe.” 

“Fair enough-” Charlie was beginning to say, but then Vaggie cut her off.

“Why do you want her alone!?” She pointed the spear at the two of them “so you can trick her into making some deal with you? Don’t think that I don’t see through you fake-ass charm you fucking dickhead!”

Vaggie slipped into a spanish rant, cursing furiously. Charlie nearly facepalmed. It had been a very long day, and as much as she loved her, Vaggie was not helping the headache Charlie could feel coming on. Alastor had also begun some pointless argument with Vox as well.

“STOP!” Charlie’s voice boomed out, several octaves lower than normal, horns sprouting from her skull, and hellfire briefly forming a ring around her. All the conversations stopped, every person in the room was staring at the princess. She resolved to speak before this brief confidence left her.

“Anything said to me, can be said to my manager as well” she gestured to Vaggie, silently pleading with her to help. “If you really don’t want to have Al be there, then that can be arranged, I guess.” Vaggie sighed.

Vox nodded. “Thank you princess”

“Call me Charlie, please.” And with that she led the trio to her office, Alastor was left standing in the lobby, his grin forced and creepy, before he shrugged and walked over to pester Husk.

The four demons piled into Charlie's small office. It was a simple space, with a desk in the middle that had two chairs in front of it and one behind, resembling the principal's office one might find a low-budget school. The walls were decorated with portraits of Charlie’s family as well as several drawings she had made, mostly of rainbows and clouds in traditional 'Charlie' styling. Vox and Val took the simple seats in front of the desk, with Charlie perched in her office chair behind it. Vaggie stood by her side, the spear still held out defensively.

“So what is this about anyway?” The two overlords exchanged a look, before Vox spoke up.

“How caught up are you on recent events?” 

“What does that that have to do with anything?”

“Just answer the question.”

Charlie racked her brain, trying to think about what Vox could possibly be referring to. It was Vaggie who piped up first however.

“If this is about the incident at that club last night, then I don’t really see how it concerns us.” Her eyes were narrowed suspiciously, glaring down at them. 

“But it does. You see the ‘incident’ that took place was an attempt on our friend, Velvet’s, life.” Vox let the statement hang in the air for a moment before continuing. “Therefore we need a place to keep Velvet that would be safe from any potential future schemes.”

“So you want to have Velvet stay here?” Vaggie looked and sounded completely unconvinced.

Vox nodded. “Possibly. But we’d like to ask a few questions about the place before we decide that. I’m sure you understand.”

Vaggie looked even more suspicious now. “What do you need to know? I’m not giving any information about anyone here, so don’t even fucking ask.” Val chimed in

“Of course, of course. We don’t need any information of that sort, we would like to know about the capabilities for providing therapy.” 

“Elaborate.”

Vox sighed. He slid a pamphlet across the desk. “We need to know if this place has the capacity for providing this kind of therapy specifically. And who is in charge of administering it. If Velvet’s going to stay here, we need to know if it can be provided to her”  
  


Charlie looked up, a smile beaming so bright the room almost seemed to light up. “I provide therapy for all the guests here! I’m sure Velvet would love it!”

“What are your qualifications for giving therapy?” Vox shared a look with Val. One that read 'can you believe this shit'.

“I have a positive attitude! I want to help sinners however I can, plus I have my dad’s collection of books about the subject.” She quickly added the last part after Vaggie nudged her ankle under the desk. Right. Stay professional.

Val and Vox still looked unconvinced, if a little amused. Vaggie quickly butted in, trying to salvage the situation. “Charlie has been reading up on demon psychology for decades. And while this specific type-” she motioned to the pamphlet “is more specific then some I’ve seen, the basic principle is still the same. I’m sure the hotel could provide those needs.” Vaggie didn't trust the two before her, but it didn't mean that she wasn't going to help Charlie. She always would help Charlie.

“So why would Velvet need-” Charlie began to question.

“Anyway!” Val interrupted. “Lets move on to the other topic we’d like to discuss.” 

Charlie shared a quick look with Vaggie, but decided not to press the issue. “I think we are of one mind here when I say that we don’t trust the radio demon.” The moth continued, addressing Vaggie as he spoke.

Vaggie nodded. That much she could definitely agree with. “So we need to know” Val elaborated. “if you can keep Al from harming Velvet while she stays here.”

“You don’t need to worry about that!” Charlie quickly answered, enthusiasm still unabated. “We won’t let him hurt any of the guests here.”

Vaggie backed her up “I already have to keep him from killing Angel every few hours anyway. I can keep from pulling any schemes with Velvet.” 

“How do you plan on doing that? You gonna threaten him with that spear of yours?” Vox didn’t sound very satisfied with the explanation. 

“I ordered him to help with this hotel.” Charlie needed to calm their fears. “I assure you, I can keep Alastor from hurting Velvet.” Vox sighed. He still looked... doubtful. Vox and Val had a quick hushed exchange before turning back to the princess. “We would like the tour now.”

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It had been an even longer day for Charlie then she’d first thought. Vox and Val didn’t seem very convinced of the hotel. Still they hadn’t dismissed it outright, instead saying they would come by again the following day. So it wasn’t a total failure at least. Not like usual, where the few serious offers she would get would scoff at her antics before leaving, making sure she heard the gossip about how 'stupid and crazy' Charlie was. It got... demeaning sometimes, but she had to stay positive! And now, there was the possibility of getting an esteemed overlord to stay in her hotel, which would be a huge benefit, and more then enough motivation for her. Regardless she was sitting in bed now, Vaggie next to her, reading something about a wizard? Humans came up with some of the strangest ideas for books. Charlie could tell that Vaggie was disappointed in her because she had that look on her face, the same one she’d had after the disastrous interview on the news. 

“You think I’m making the wrong choice don’t you?” the words spilled out before she could stop them. Shit, she should have worded that differently, why did she always fumble with her words? Why couldn't she just _not_ be nervous when talking to people? Sometimes it just felt like an black hole opened in the pit of her stomach, swallowing Charlie pitiful attempts at coherent speech and replacing it with awkward half-stutters and poorly thought out words. Vaggie looked up, a little surprised by the sudden question, before she sucked in a breath and answered.

“I think we should be skeptical of them hon. I mean, suddenly they approach us out of the blue, and they want an overlord to live with us?” 

Charlie bit her lip “But you know why, they want somewhere for Velvet to be safe, can we really turn them down?” She couldn’t deny anyone shelter, it just didn’t sit right with her.

“But why here though? And why the therapy?” Charlie didn’t have an answer for that “We should be careful hon, It doesn’t add up.” Poor Vaggie, always worrying. But Charlie felt confident that they were telling the truth, Vox and Val had seemed very sincere when they came to her office.

“Look if we find out it’s a trick we can just kick her out then okay?” 

“What if it’s too late? What if we lose everything because of this? You know their reputation, we can’t afford to trust them. They probably just want to use her to spy on us.”

Charlie sighed “I know you’re worried about me, but I really think this is gonna work. I mean what would hell say when they saw we had an overlord as a patron?” Vaggie opened her mouth to object, then closed it.

“She won’t be here for redemption” she said finally. Charlie knew this of course, Vox and Val had gone out of their way to stress that they believed redemption to be impossible.

“Even if she isn’t, I can’t just reject someone who needs a safe place to live. What kind of message would that send? Besides what reason would they have to spy on us?”

“The message that you're not a pushover.” Did Vaggie really think of her like that? 

“Look, I know what it can seem like sometimes, but I’m not some easy mark. I’ll be fine, just please can you have a little faith in that?” 

Vaggie’s shoulders slumped. “Okay”. Charlie hugged her in death grip. “Thank you so much! I promise it’ll work!” Vaggie smiled. She always liked seeing her girlfriend so happy. She was still suspicious though, but perhaps Charlie was right. Maybe they should give it a chance. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, I'm done editing all the chapters.  
> I personally really like Charlie as a character, and I look forward to writing more of her in the future.  
> Anyway, it might be a while before I get to the next chapter, but I promise it won't be too long. Also I just wanted to say that I know that nothing about Roo as a character, so she won't be in the story other then this breif cameo. I'm working with the rumor that Roo is the show's main villain, and thus a powerful overlord.


	5. The devils in the Valentino

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So huh? its been a while. There isn't too much story in this one, just shedding some light on the less savory parts of Velvet and Val's relationship. For returning readers: all the other chapters have been edited and improved, so it might be worth it to go back and re-read them.

Velvet was tired. Why? She didn't quite know. She remembered falling asleep with Vox last night, so then why did she feel like she hadn't slept at all? At least the nightmares stopped, probably because Vox chased them away. She just wished he could have been there to chase off the men with the spears. Pain flashed through her body all of sudden, her mind flashing with images of the night before. Crying out, begging for help, but receiving none from the sinners all around her. Why hadn't they helped? Velvet squeaked, a small pathetic sound, before diving under the blankets, curling herself in as many layers of the fluffy cocoon as she could manage. What was causing the pain? Were the men with spears here? Had they found her to finish the job? Despite the layers of blankets, Velvet found herself shivering like mad, her heart thumping so loud she was certain that they must be able to hear it. The pain flared again, right around the middle of middle of Velvet's stomach. She grasped at the site of the pain, only to find-wait, were those bandages?Oh. It must have been the wounds from last night. That actually made a lot of sense. Still the feeling of being trapped did not abate, the crushing vice on her chest constricted further, the shivering only worsened. Why was it so cold? Who in their right mind would turn the temperature so low? It was almost funny in a strange sort of way. Then the door burst open suddenly, causing Velvet to flail around and tumble off the side of the bed with a surprised yelp. She untangled herself from the blanket, fresh pain flaring in her stomach to glare at whoever had just rather rudely barged their way into her room. She looked to find...Roo. Honestly out of anyone, Velvet was not expecting Roo. Sure she was friends with Vox, and a decently powerful demon in her own right, but Velvet was confused as to why she was even here. Did she move in overnight? Did Val break up with Vox again, and was this some ploy to make him jealous? Honestly Velvet didn't know which possibility was more horrifying. Roo was standing over the mass of blankets on the floor, one of her eyebrows cocked and a very amused look painting her raven-like mouth.

"Sup' kid." 

"Uh hi?" 

"Did you fall out the bed?" "Well-I, uh." Velvet stumbled over her words. "...Yes."

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Roo had told her not to worry (after recovering from her bout of laughing), telling her that Vox was out with Val doing 'business things'. Of course that didn't stop Velvet from worrying, but surely if Roo said they were okay then they were right? No she wouldn't be lied too, and that irrational fear that locked up her chest at the possibility was just that. Irrational. Vox and Val would never abandon her. After all, Val had come to help her last night, she briefly remembered that among the other sensations of being cold... and weightless. The memory brought a fresh bout of fear to Velvet's frame, her breath rapidly quickening. She clutched the fuzzy blanket that Val had given her close to her chest. She quietly muttered he thanks to the fluffy object. Velvet loved her blanket. It had been a gift that Val had given her one year, for something called a "birthday" (she felt like she should remember what exactly that was, like a distant feeling of significance.). It was very comfortable and, most importantly, it was her faithful defender against the terrors of the night. Many a night had she been awoken by the mysterious creak of the floorboard, or been kept up watching that particularly misshapen shadow in her room. Sometimes she greeted these things with curiosity, wondering if there something fun to entertain her in the late hours of the night, when her various social media feeds were too slow to sate her boredom. Other times she was caught off guard, and would jump behind the blanket in fear, of which her companion would always quickly dispose of. Recently however, those shadows and noises had taken on a different kind of form for her. For the hours of the prior night, after all the strange men left her alone, she was left, sitting in the bed, sobbing quietly in the agony of cuts and scars. They had put some strange substance in her, and after that the pain had gone away. But then the shadows morphed into more and more twisted shapes, eyes forming and mouths twisted in sick grins. Every creak of the floorboard heralded their advance as they crept closer to her bed. She had tried to call on her fluffy defender once more that night, and though it helped somewhat, whatever horrible creatures had infiltrated her room where clearly far more powerful. Their mouths seemed only to smile wider, their shadowy bodies forming even more inhuman, horrifying shapes. Thankfully Vox had arrived in the nick of time to scare them away. She been so happy to see him, she'd been worried he might never show up. After all he hadn't been there at the pub, whose to say he would be there to help against the shadow monsters in her room. She was happy to be proven wrong, but that doubt still lingering, along with the guilt for even thinking like that. After that she'd been able to get some sleep, curled into the warmth of Vox's coat, listening to the soft beat of a mechanical heart. It was the first time that night she felt safe.

But that was hours ago. Now Velvet had emerged from the bed, the red light washing through the window ensuring her safety. Her fancy party dress was ruined, stained all over with ink-black blood. But thankfully her usual dress was still good, an unsoiled white and purple, complete with little purple shoes, her favorites! A quick check on her followers showed many consolation messages. Her newest post was blowing up, even Stolas was being nice! Val on the other hand... he was sitting on the couch, staring across the hall to where Velvet had peaked her head out the door. He didn't look very happy? Did she spend too much time on her hair? She didn't think she spent much more time than usual on her hair, just it hurt to lift her arms over her head, so it just took longer, even with Roo's help. Maybe he was just mad at one of his employees again. 

"Baby doll, why don't you come over real quick hmm?" Val's voice was quiet and deceptively calm, meaning he was likely very angry and, by the looks, she was the target. Velvet shuffled her shoes across the carpet keeping her eyes focused between them, avoiding eye contact with Val like she would vanish if she so much as glanced at the moth's irises. She came to a stop a few feet in front of where he was seated, her shoes pointing into each other, hands folded neatly in front of her. Her heart pattered in her chest, like a thousand little hoofbeats of a stampede. 

"Look at me" Val ordered. Velvet slowly lifted her gaze from the carpet. Val was holding out his phone, opened to her voxtagram page.

"What am I looking at?" He demanded. On the screen was a selfie Velvet had taken in bed, smiling bright and wide, the bandages and IV's in full view. Below was the caption she wrote earlier, _Hii, I took a bit of a fall, but I'm fine XOXO_.

"I just wanted to update my followers, you know-"

"You just wanted to update your followers." Val interrupted, his voice slightly louder. He chuckled "Baby doll, do you have ANY idea how fucking stupid that was?"

"No, I-I just thought-" 

"You just thought you'd go against common fucking sense?! You told the whole world you were hurt!" 

"No, I-" Velvet's throat was closing up, water welling in her eyes. 

"This always happens Vel! You fuck something up and I have to bail you out" Valentino had gotten up to his full height and was yelling now, as Velvet cowered before his rage. Sometimes she thought Val's rage was funny, but now? It was like trying to stand against a tsunami in a hut made of sand. Of course Val had gotten mad at her before, when she'd messed up. Usually the punishments weren't too bad, like being grounded or phone. Sometimes though-

"I'm putting in the room for the night, till you learn some fucking basic sense of things." All of Velvet's thoughts came to a screeching halt. There was no need for further explanation from Val. It was like the whole building dropped in temperature. The room was _horrible._ Val would lock her in there for days sometimes, when she made the biggest and most egregious errors. She would just be in a dark and cold room, all alone. The days would blend together, she could see shapes in the darkness. It was one of the worst experiences of her life. She had clung to Val's midsection tightly after she'd last been let out, promising that she would never ever ever mess up again. It seemed that hadn't lasted. 

"W-Wait, Val, I didn't mean too!" Valentino had grabbed her arm and began to drag her towards the elevator. She began to struggle "Val please!" The panicked tears were falling freely now. "Please I don't want to!" Val turned back to her briefly, his eyes burning with a white hot rage.

"Well it's happening, so quit fucking squirming and accept it. You fucked up, and I'm gonna make sure you don't EVER do so again." His voice shifted to a calmer tone. "I'm doing this because I need to understand not to do stuff like this okay?" That made sense to velvet, in some small part of her brain, but that part was quickly drowned out by the haze of panic. She tried pushing her feet against the floor, digging in her heels and pulling with all her might. She felt something in her midsection drip with warm blood, and pain flared. Suddenly her head spun, veered to one side, caught by the back of one of Val's hands. 

"Stop fighting it!" Val grunted. "Your only hurtin' yourself." Val was grappling with the panicked efforts of Velvet, but due to his much larger size it was largely inevitable, Velvet was dragged into the elevator, her pleas falling on deaf ears. She was dragged down the hallway, lined with Val's men, and dragged to dreaded steel door of the room. Val snapped his fingers, and Velvet, still meekly pleading and begging, briefly stopped at the feeling of fresh bandages replacing the torn ones around her middle. With that Val opened the great steel door and threw her unceremoniously into the room. Velvet quickly got back to her feet, rushing to door and pounding the metal till her fist hurt.

"Val! Val wait please! I didn't mean to do it wrong!" She stopped as her breathing was interrupted by gasping and sobbing "Please I'll do better!" She pounded on the door with all her might, crying out pleas and begging Val to come back. Eventually, she slumped back to the ground, the pounding turning to a weak bopping of the door. The room was so cold, like it was trying to steal all warmth from her body. Eventually Velvet laid herself on the ground, curling into a tight ball on her side. She tried to ignore the sounds of screeching metal she was sure she heard. She wished she had the blanket to protect her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If that seemed abrupt for you, then let me explain. Throughout all of the things we've seen of Val so far, he seems to be obsessed with controlling the lives of his employees without regard for their wants. He is a pimp, and as such is inherently controlling, abusive and selfish. I believe that these tendencies would likely leak into his own personal relationships as well. This is what we see here. That is not to say that Val and Velvet can't have wholesome moments, and I think that Val does care, in his own sick twisted way. It just means that Valentino isn't an example of a good parent. In fact, he is a very bad parent, and what he does here is a messed up form of abuse. He is in hell, and an overlord, meaning he is a bad person. He is not supposed to be a character you look up too, or even like. 
> 
> Final thing; A big inspiration for this chapter was the fic "And then time stops" By Ackerhardt. This is where I got the idea for "the room" (read: I ripped the concept straight from that fic). So go read that one, it's much better then this one.


	6. The big move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you enjoy this belated chapter.

Velvet felt the limo lurch as it passed a corner. Her legs bounced off the edge of the seat. Her bag sat next to her, filled all various manners of her things. She had been sure to pack her blanket, it had been a long and cold night without it. She could swear that her feet were still a little numb from the ice-cold steel floor she had slept on for who-knows how long. And after Val had let her out, Vox had come and told her to pack, most likely another punishment. The conversation replayed in her mind.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_"I don't wanna leave!" Velvet clutched Vox's midsection in a vice grip, her whole frame trembling. " Please! I can be good I swear!" Vox gently untangled himself from Velvet._

_"Velvet." Velvet could barely hear him, her whole body was shaking and their was a thrum in her ears. "Velvet!" Now she looked up at him, the hum in her ears fading._

_Vox had knelt down to her level. "We aren't sending you away." They weren't? Clearly they were though, if they were telling Velvet to pack? "Please don't think this is cause your not good enough."_

_Vox's face was twisted in an odd expression. "It's just that-." Vox paused for a moment. "Look, this is only for a little bit okay? As soon as we can we'll bring you back here. And, I'll come visit you whenever I can. But please, I need you to do this." Velvet could barely hear him at this point, she was drifting back into her own head, the buzz had returned tenfold. She began to remember....something, she wasn't sure quite what. It was a warm memory, gracing her mind like the golden rays of the sun._

_"Vel?" Vox's voice brought her back to the present. She hadn't noticed the tears that had begun to drip. "Vel what's wrong?" Vox looked concerned._

_"I-." Velvet paused. She wasn't quite sure how to express the strange feeling. "I just want things to go back to the way it was." She didn't notice Vox's expression shatter completely. "Why can't I be normal?" She wondered aloud, still struggling to think, to clear her head for just one moment. " Why doesn't this make sense?"_

_Vox spoke, his voice was wavering, but still as calm and gentle as it has always been. "I don't know." He admitted. "But please. Please know that this isn't your fault. "_

_The two stayed silent for a while, neither quite sure what to say._

_"Pack your things." Vox finally said. "It's time for you to go." Velvet looked ready to interrupt, but he beat her to it. "I'll come visit you tomorrow okay? I know this isn't ideal, believe me I didn't like this either, but I need you to go through with it okay?" Velvet nodded._

_\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Velvet was thrown back to the present by the final lurch of the car. Outside the window was the building which she guessed was the "hotel" Vox had told her about. She hoped that he would show up tomorrow. The thought of Vox not followed through with that promise was one that sent a chill down her spine. Soon the car door opened, a raven-like demon was gesturing her to get out of the car. He led the way as the two of them walked towards the large building. In front of the building were two demons, seemingly waiting for them. 

The two soon spotted them, and walked over to greet them. Well, 'walked' wasn't quite the right word, the blonde one practically teleported over, bouncing on her heels with enough enthusiasm to kill an elephant. What was an elephant again? Whatever. 

"Hi!" The blonde demon's voice was just as excited as one would expect "Welcome to the Happy Hotel! I'm so happy to finally meet you!" Well that was surprising. Still it was nice to finally meet someone who wasn't so rude all the time! 

"Uh, hi. Nice to meet you I guess. What did you say your name was?"

"Oh, where are my manners." She chuckled. "I'm Charlie, and that's my manager Vaggie." She gestured over to the grey demon would was standing nearby. Velvet didn't like the spear she held, it made her very nervous. But Charlie seemed nice enough. 

"Can I go now?" The gruff voice to her left interrupted them. Charlie turned to large Raven. "O-oh, uh, yes. Yes you can go now." 

He nodded. "Boss says don't let her be seen in the open like this." He handed Charlie some kind of paper before turning and leaving, muttering something about 'shoulder pats for Steve'. Odd guy. Charlie led her into the building, babbling about all sorts of nonsense that Velvet was only half paying attention too. 

There was a bar that seemed to be doubling as a front desk in the ornate lobby. Overall the place was decrepit, seeming to be a building that was half asleep, it's glory days far beyond it. 

"So what do you think of it?" Charlie was looking at her expectantly.   
  
"It's....very large" and it was. There were other things she could mention of course, about the sad state of the building, about the wallpaper that was crumbling, the furniture that was matted and unused, and about the chandelier that was grimy and only had half it's lights working. But Vox had instructed her to be nice to these people. And she didn't want to disappoint him. 

"Yeah, I guess it is." Charlie chuckled softly. "It needs to be of course! We need it for when we get more patrons. O-of course there's only one right now, but I'm sure we'll get more!" 

The grey one (what was her name again?) stepped in to halt Charlie's increasingly awkward rambling.

"So Husk will give you your key, and we'll have Nifty show you to your room." Velvet nodded. What was a Nifty? Or a Husk? They sounded like cleaning things that she'd seen in ads on the internet. But how could cleaning things be used to give her a key? Much less show her to her room. Oh wait! They must be those fancy robot cleaners she'd seen in videos on voxtube. Apparently some people liked to put googly eyes on them. Unfortunately Velvet still didn't know where to go. 

"Charlie?" 

"Yes?" Charlie turned on her heel, she had been talking to the other demon about something it seemed. 

"Where exactly are 'Husk' and 'Nifty'."

"Oh of course!" Charlie beamed. "They're right-" She as cut off by a blur of orange-red motion. Not that it was very distinguishable from the rest of the building, everything was just so _red._

"OHMYGOSHIT'SSOMESSY!" It talked?

Charlie sighed. "Nifty can you stop for a minute please?" The blur halted around Charlie's legs, taking the form of a small demon, dressed a red and white dress. She was holding a feather duster and she stared up at Charlie with one glowing eye.   
  


"Yes boss?" Nifty gave a small salute. 

"This is a new patron. Can you please show her to room 127?" Charlie spoke softly, like a woman who was _far_ too tired to be working. Nifty, on the other hand, didn't seem to be tired at all.

"Sure thing boss! I just need to get the MESS!"

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As it turned out 'Husk' was the large cat-man Velvet had seen behind the bar earlier, sleeping amongst empty bottles. The elevator was painfully slow, and apparently Nifty agreed, she was twitching idly looking around for anything to clean.   
  
"So, you look kind of familiar." Vevlet turned to face Nifty, who was pondering, a finger rubbing her chin. Then she snapped her fingers.   
  
"From Voxtagram, you know Vox and Valentino right?"

"Yeah I do, there just as grumpy in real life." Nifty giggled.

"Most people are." 

"I know right?" Suddenly Nifty pulled out a notepad from...somewhere, Velvet wasn't sure exactly where.

"This is perfect!" Velvet tilted her head, confused.

"See, I like to write alot of fanfiction, and-" Velvet gasped. "You too?" 

"So you'll help?" Nifty was bouncing happily, and soon Velvet joined her.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angle Dust was departing for work, boss said it was important, which was usually a very bad sign. The last time he'd gotten a text like that-. No. He didn't let his min wander to that… unpleasant memory. He walked to the elevator, mentally preparing himself. It was always a mystery what the big V had in store, but it was rarely good. The elevator dinged and out stepped someone else. Well that was new, someone had finally been suckered in to the princesses group pity-party. Or they just needed a place to stay, like him. Either way it didn't matter, and he would've just ignored them like normal. Until he noticed who it was, and realized that he in fact recognized them. It was the crazy bitch who had followed him to the club last week. The one who he remembers was sobbing on the ground in a puddle of their own blood. 

The kid in question was talking excitedly to Nifty, the hotel's resident neat freak. The two were giggling profusely, waving around papers and pens. They were alternating between chatting quietly and scribbling on the papers they had. Angle tried to look at what they were writing. Now see, he prided himself on getting around the block, trying every time of degeneracy he could. But _that._ Ugh, it was vile. Angle quickly excused himself into the elevator, trying to wash his brain of the mental image. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angle approached the door to Val's office. His legs were trembling, heart pounding. It was like every cell in his body was screaming at him to run, to get away. Instead he took a deep breath, and opened the door. Inside sat Val, reclined on his chair. He was grinning like he always did.   
"Angie baby" He cooed "come over here sugar" the word was spoken without the slightest hint of any endearment, more like a curse spit then a compliment. 

Angle dust gulped, shivering slightly as he made his way over. The air was thick with Val's iconic red smoke, and already he could feel the slight buzz at the back of his brain, lulling him into a sense of comfort, of safety. Of course it was a lie, it was always a lie, but Angle's body believed it every time. 

"So, Angie." Val's voice buzzed, like a bee had nestled itself in his throat. "Do you remember out little conversation last week, about my associate." Angle nodded

"Good. I have a job for you Angie." 

"Anything you want boss." Angle felt much more relaxed now, his mind slower and much more content, as much as he desperately wished it wasn't. 

"Good boy. So my associate is now gonna be staying at miss princesses little hotel, you understand? And I want _you-"_ Val poked Angle's chest with his finger. "-to keep an eye on them for me. Especially make sure that lousy radio demon stays away from them."

"Is that all boss?" Angle didn't want to believe it.

"Not quite." There it was. Val suddenly grabbed him, nails digging into his skin. He held Angel's face so it was below his own, staring up at the moth's irises. "If _anything_ happens to the kid, then daddy's gonna have to punish you. And you don't want that do you, darling?" Angle franticly shock his head. Val released him. 

"Go on then." Val gestured to the door, lighting another cigar, "You've gotta a long shot today." 

"Yes sir mista Valentino" Angel hurriedly let himself out after uttering the long-practiced phrase, it was best not to give the boss time to change his mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been a long time coming. I hope this meets your expectations. There will be a few more chapters, but then I'm hoping to put a nice bow on this story.

**Author's Note:**

> My idea for this work was the concept that Vox and Val are basically the concerned parents for Velvet, her being the little insane demon child she is. In the future you can expect to see Vox and Val seeking help for Velvet, so stay tuned for that. Anyway If I made any grammatical errors in the text, or there was a way I could write this better then please let me know as this is still my first ever fanfiction.


End file.
